System and method for community aided research and shopping

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing product research help to a consumer doing internet shopping. A consumer helper application for internet commerce has been designed to integrate the techniques that are currently used by many internet consumers into a single application program. For example, the consumer helper application allows a user to take notes, store web site links, store web site annotations, obtain collaborative input, and perform other tasks commonly used by web site consumers. The consumer helper application stores all of the information gathered in a single place. Information provided by other consumers may be shared using the consumer helper application. The consumer helper application will suggest specific items for a consumer to purchase based up on the information gathered by the consumer into the consumer helper application.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of internet commerce. Inparticular, but not by way of limitation, the present inventiondiscloses techniques for allowing an internet consumer to easily performproduct research.

BACKGROUND

The World Wide Web aspect of the global internet has become a vastcommercial marketplace where a consumer can find just about every typeof product available. Even the traditional start of the holiday shoppingseason, the day after Thanksgiving known as “Black Friday”, now has aninternet corollary: Cyber Monday, the first Monday after theThanksgiving Holiday.

Although internet commerce has been taking place for many years now, theindustry is still in a relative infancy compared to normal stores andopen air markets. Many people are still reluctant to use internet retailweb sites since they do not feel familiar enough and they do not feelthey can easily get the information needed to make good purchasingdecisions. Even veteran internet shoppers can have difficulties in findthe information that they need to make a good educated purchasingdecision

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsdescribe substantially similar components throughout the several views.Like numerals having different letter suffixes represent differentinstances of substantially similar components. The drawings illustrategenerally, by way of example, but not by way of limitation, variousembodiments discussed in the present document.

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of machine in theexample form of a computer system within which a set of instructions,for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, may be executed.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a networked system that may beused to implement an internet commerce system.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a possible architecture for aconsumer helper application system.

FIG. 4 illustrates a high-level flow diagram that illustrates how aconsumer may interact with one embodiment of the consumer helperapplication system that is set forth in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5A illustrates a template web page for the consumer helperapplication being used to perform product research on a digital cameratype of product.

FIG. 5B illustrates an alternate web interface for a product featuresarea that uses drop-down menus to select desired product features.

FIG. 6A illustrates a web interface for a consumer helper applicationdisplaying a set of buying guide web sites.

FIG. 6B illustrates a web interface for a consumer helper applicationdisplaying a set of product review web sites.

FIG. 6C illustrates a web interface for a consumer helper applicationdisplaying a set of relevant Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) web sites.

FIG. 7A illustrates an example embodiment of a consumer helperapplication toolbar for annotating web pages.

FIG. 7B illustrates an example of a digital camera buying guide web pagethat has been annotated using the tool bar of FIG. 7A.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a web interface for a consumer helperapplication displaying a set of relevant products.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description includes references to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of the detailed description.The drawings show illustrations in accordance with example embodiments.These embodiments, which are also referred to herein as “examples,” aredescribed in enough detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the artthat specific details in the example embodiments are not required inorder to practice the present invention. For example, although theexample embodiments are mainly disclosed with reference to email systemsthat use the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP), the teachings can beused with other types of email protocols or other types of electroniccommunication systems. The example embodiments may be combined, otherembodiments may be utilized, or structural, logical and electricalchanges may be made without departing from the scope what is claimed.The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in alimiting sense, and the scope is defined by the appended claims andtheir equivalents.

In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common in patentdocuments, to include one or more than one. In this document, the term“or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that “A or B” includes“A but not B,” “B but not A,” and “A and B,” unless otherwise indicated.Furthermore, all publications, patents, and patent documents referred toin this document are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety,as though individually incorporated by reference. In the event ofinconsistent usages between this document and those documents soincorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s)should be considered supplementary to that of this document; forirreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls.

Computer Systems

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in theexample form of a computer system 100 within which a set of instructions124, for causing the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, may be executed. In alternativeembodiments, the machine may operate as a standalone device or may beconnected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in server-client network environment, or as a peermachine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. Themachine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box(STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a webappliance, a network server, a network router, a network switch, anetwork bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set ofinstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated inFIG. 1, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collectionof machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiplesets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The example computer system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes aprocessor 102 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU) or both), a main memory 104, and a static memory106. Any of these elements may communicate with each other via a bus108. The computer system 100 may further include a video display adapter110 that drives a video display system 115 such as a Liquid CrystalDisplay (LCD) or a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). The example computer system100 also includes an alphanumeric input device 112 (e.g., a keyboard), acursor control device 114 (e.g., a mouse or trackball), a disk driveunit 116, a signal generation device 118 (e.g., a speaker), and anetwork interface device 120. Note that various embodiments of acomputer system will not always include all of these peripheral devices.

The disk drive unit 116 includes a machine-readable medium 122 on whichis stored one or more sets of computer instructions and data structures(e.g., instructions 124 also known as ‘software’) embodying or utilizedby any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein.The instructions 124 may also reside, completely or at least partially,within the main memory 104 and/or within the processor 102 duringexecution thereof by the computer system 100, the main memory 104 andthe processor 102 also constituting machine-readable media.

The instructions 124 for operating computer system 100 may betransmitted or received over a network 126 via the network interfacedevice 120 utilizing any one of a number of well-known transferprotocols such as the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

While the machine-readable medium 122 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should betaken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralizedor distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) thatstore the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by themachine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies described herein, or that is capable of storing, encodingor carrying data structures utilized by or associated with such a set ofinstructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly betaken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, opticalmedia, flash memory, magnetic media, and carrier wave signals.

For the purposes of this specification, the term “module” includes anidentifiable portion of computer code, computational or executableinstructions, data, or computational object to achieve a particularfunction, operation, processing, or procedure. A module need not beimplemented in software; a module may be implemented in software,hardware/circuitry, or a combination of software and hardware.

Internet Commerce Systems

FIG. 2 is a network diagram depicting a client-server system 200, withinwhich one example embodiment may be deployed. A networked system 202, inthe example forms of a network-based marketplace or publication system,provides server-side functionality via a network 204 (e.g., the Internetor Wide Area Network (WAN)) to one or more client systems. FIG. 2illustrates two possible client systems: a web client 206 and aprogrammatic client 208 executing on respective client machines 210 and212. The web client 206 may be a common web browser program such as theInternet Explorer browser developed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond,Wash. State or the Firefox browser developed by Mozilla. A web clientprogram may include one or more “plug-in” modules 207 that provideadditional functionality to the web browser such as an Internet ExplorerBrowser Helper Object (BHO) or a Firefox extension.

An Application Program Interface (API) server 214 and a web server 216are coupled to, and provide programmatic and web interfaces respectivelyto, one or more application servers 218. The application server(s) 218host one or more marketplace applications such as commerce applications220 and payment applications 222. The application server(s) 218 are, inturn, shown to be coupled to one or more database servers 224 thatfacilitate access to one or more databases 226.

The commerce applications 220 may provide a number of marketplacefunctions and services to users that access the networked system 202.The payment applications 222 may likewise provide a number of paymentservices and functions to users. The payment applications 222 may allowusers to accumulate value (e.g., in a commercial currency, such as theU.S. dollar, or a proprietary currency, such as “points”) in accounts,and then later to redeem the accumulated value for products (e.g., goodsor services) that are made available via the marketplace applications220. While the marketplace and payment applications 220 and 222 areshown in FIG. 2 to both form part of the networked system 202, it willbe appreciated that, in alternative embodiments, the paymentapplications 222 may form part of a payment service that is separate anddistinct from the networked system 202.

Further, while the system 200 shown in FIG. 2 employs a client-serverarchitecture, the present invention is of course not limited to such anarchitecture, and could equally well find application in a distributed,or peer-to-peer, architecture system. The various marketplaceapplication(s) 220 and payment application(s) 222 could also beimplemented as standalone software programs that do not necessarily havenetworking capabilities.

The web client 206 accesses the various commerce application(s) 220 andpayment application(s) 222 via the web interface supported by the webserver 216. Similarly, the programmatic client 208 accesses the variousservices and functions provided by the marketplace and paymentapplications 220 and 222 via the programmatic interface provided by theAPI server 214. The programmatic client 208 may be a seller applicationto enable sellers to author and manage listings on the networked system202 in an off-line manner, and to perform batch-mode communicationsbetween the programmatic client 208 and the networked system 202. Oneexample of such an application is the TurboLister application developedby eBay Inc., of San Jose, Calif.

FIG. 2 also illustrates a third party application 228, executing on athird party server machine 230, as having programmatic access to thenetworked system 202 via the programmatic interface provided by the APIserver 214. For example, the third party application 228 may, utilizinginformation retrieved from the networked system 202, support one or morefeatures or functions on a website hosted by the third party. The thirdparty website may, for example, provide one or more promotional,marketplace or payment functions that are supported by the relevantapplications of the networked system 202.

Shopping with Internet Commerce Web Sites

Most internet commerce is currently conducted by a consumer running aweb browser application on a personal computer that accesses a webserver application implementing an internet commerce site. If theconsumer happens to know the exact item that the consumer wishes topurchase then that consumer can simply enter the name of the desiredproduct into a search box at an internet commerce site or into ageneralized internet search engine.

However, most people do not know exactly what they wish to purchase wheninitially shopping for an item. Instead, the consumer will have a roughidea of what the consumer wishes to purchase. For example, a consumermay wish to purchase a digital camera but not much more detail thanthat. The consumer may have a budget and some rough specifications inmind such as a budget of $300 and a camera with a resolution greaterthan 4 megapixels. But beyond that, the user will do additional researchand browsing to identify the camera to purchase.

On the Internet, the consumer may visit published review sites likecnet.com or user review sites like epinions.com in order to obtainreviews for some products. For example, computer system 310 runninginternet browser application 306 in FIG. 3 may access review web siteserver 292 in order to read review about products available forpurchase. illustrates a com

Beyond computer-based shopping research, a consumer may talk to friendsand colleagues to get additional information and recommendations. Aconsumer may also read traditional magazines and newspapers to learnabout available products. Keeping track of all the information gainedduring this shopping research phase is difficult. The information may bespread across hand written notes on scraps of paper, articles cut frommagazines and newspapers, the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) based“bookmarks” in the consumer's internet web browser, and in theconsumer's memory.

After having collected all of this shopping research information, theconsumer must then somehow consolidate all this information gatheredduring the shopping research phase. The consumer then analyzes theconsolidated shopping research information in order to pick a specificproduct to purchase.

After selecting a particular product, the consumer must visit variousweb sites to find a good price on the desired item. Referring to FIG. 3,a consumer using computer system 310 and internet browser program 306may visit internet commerce server 302, internet commerce server 280,and many other internet commerce servers attempting to find a low priceon the desired product, low shipping fees, and a reputable vendor withdesirable customer service policies.

This entire online shopping process has many shortcomings. For example,the process is not guided, information may easily become lost orforgotten, it is difficult to integrate collaborative input (such as theadvice of friends/colleagues) into the process, and the gatheredinformation is not organized or easily stored.

Consumer Helper Application for Internet Commerce Overview

To improve upon the consumer experience for internet shopping, thisdisclosure introduces a consumer helper application for internetcommerce. The consumer helper application has been designed to integratethe techniques that are currently used by many internet consumers into asingle application program. For example, the consumer helper applicationallows a user to take notes, store web site links, store web siteannotations, obtain collaborative input, and perform other taskscommonly used by web site consumers. The consumer helper applicationstores all of the information gathered in a single place. Finally, theconsumer helper application will suggest specific items for a consumerto purchase based up on the information gathered by the consumer intothe consumer helper application.

Consumer Helper Application for Internet Commerce Architecture

FIG. 3 illustrates the architecture of one embodiment of a consumerhelper application for internet commerce. The specific embodimentdisclosed in FIG. 3 is just one possible architecture for implementingthe teachings of the present disclosure.

In the consumer helper application system of FIG. 3, a consumer helperapplication plug-in 307 is installed to work with a user's internetbrowser application 306 on the user's computer system 310. The consumerhelper application plug-in 307 may be a Browser Helper Object (BHO) inan embodiment designed for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, a browserextension program for the Firefox web browser, or any other suitabletype of application program. By implementing the consumer helperapplication plug-in 307 as a BHO or browser extension, the consumerhelper application plug-in 307 will be available when a user is browsingthe World Wide Web of the internet using internet browser application306. The consumer helper application plug-in 307 will use a localstorage system 305 for storing notes, URLs, annotations, and any otherinformation collected or entered by the user when using the consumerhelper application.

In addition to the consumer helper application plug-in 307 on the user'scomputer, a consumer helper server application 314 is available on anetwork 304 such as the internet. Consumer helper server application 314can provide the user with a starting point and an initial set of datathat a user can use when research a prospective purchase. The consumerhelper server application 314 has an associated consumer helper database326 for storing information collected and generated by users of theconsumer helper application system. Consumer helper server application314 may also reference external data sources such as commerce databases328 or internet commerce server 280.

Consumer Helper Application Operation

To best describe the operation of the consumer helper application, anexample usage of the consumer helper application will be disclosed withreference to FIGS. 3 through 8. FIG. 4 illustrates a high-level flowdiagram that describes how a consumer may interact with one embodimentof the consumer helper application. Initially, at step 410, a consumerdirects his internet browser application 306 to the consumer helperserver application 314 and requests that a new product research projectbe initiated. The consumer helper server application 314 may require theconsumer to register and provide information in order to create a newaccount as is well known in the art of internet server systems. At thispoint, some embodiments of the consumer helper server application 314may also allow the consumer to download and install the consumer helperapplication plug-in 307 in order to provide a better user experience forthe consumer.

As part of the initiation of a new product research project, theconsumer may be requested to specify how much of the consumer'sinformation may be shared with other users of the shopping researchsystem. The sharing of the consumer's information may be done on acompletely anonymous basis such that no privacy is lost.

In one embodiment, the system provides a detailed set of informationsharing preferences that allow a consumer to select between thefollowing access control selections: private, global, targeted share,whole or selective share. If the consumer does not wish to share anyinformation and thus wishes to keep all the information that theconsumer is entering private completely to himself/herself, then theuser will select “private”. If the user does not mind sharing theirinformation with everyone else that uses the system, then the consumercan select “global”. If the consumer wishes to share their informationwith a particular user or a selected set of users then the consumer mayselect “targeted share”. A consumer may further select the specificinformation that is shared such that if a consumer wishes to share allthe information, then the consumer selects “whole” but if the user onlywishes to share some of the information then the consumer will select“selective”.

After starting a new research project at step 410, the consumer selectsa particular type of product being researched, at step 415. In oneembodiment, a set of templates for different product types areavailable. If a template for a specific product type is not available, auser may select a generic product type template. If enough consumersseek the same type of product that does not have a template available,then a template may be created for that product type which is in demand.

FIG. 5A illustrates a template web page interface for a digital camera510 type of product. Referring back to FIG. 4, a consumer then selects aset of desired features for the product being sought at step 420. Asillustrated in FIG. 5A, area 520 is designated as a features area wherea user may select a set of desired features for the product type beingsought. The set of selectable features is created as a template for eachdifferent product type. In the digital camera 510 product type exampleof FIG. 5A, a consumer may select type, brand, optical zoom, and pricefeatures in features area 520. The more button 535 allows the consumeris to see more features or feature values than are currently illustratedwithin area 520. In one embodiment, the consumer is allowed to adjustthe selectable parameters for a particular product template.

Similarly, if a user wishes to add a new type of feature to the featuresarea 520 for the current product type, the consumer may select “Add yourown” link 531 to add a new type of feature for that product type. A setof user interfaces will allow the user to specify the name of thefeature and a set of possible values for the new feature. This newlyadded feature and the rest of the consumer's choices are stored withinconsumer helper database 326. A data-mining application 332 can be usedto continually review the contents of the consumer helper database 326.In this manner, the data-mining application 332 can identify anypatterns or clusters the form within the consumer helper database 326.For example, if several different consumers all add a new feature called“image resolution” to the digital camera template then the data-miningapplication 332 will suggest to an administrator that a new featurecalled “image resolution” be added to the standard template for digitalcamera products.

FIG. 5B illustrates an alternate embodiment of a features area 520 for adigital camera type of product. The alternate web interface of FIG. 5Bfor a product features area 520 uses drop-down menus to select desiredproduct features. For example, the consumer is illustrated selecting thebrand “Nikon” in the Brand portion of the features area 520 in FIG. 5B.Many different types of user interface techniques may be used. The maingoal is to provide a set of features for the product type and a set ofpossible selections for those features such that a consumer may narrowdown the possible product choices.

Referring back to FIG. 4, after selecting a set of product features atstep 420, the consumer helper application generates a set of web sitesand products that may be of interest at step 430. The system selects theset of web sites and products for the consumer depending on the type ofproduct selected and the desired features for that type of product. Inone embodiment, the set of products selected at step 430 are selectedfrom a database of products currently available for sale at anassociated internet commerce site. Thus, the shopping research systemcan be used to direct consumers to an associated internet commerce site.Next, at step 440, the system generates a user interface that displaysnotes taken by the consumer, the selected web sites of interest, and asuggest set of products that the consumer may wish to purchase. Thisinformation is collectively known as the “product research information”.

In addition to selecting web sites and products that may be of interestto the consumer, step 430 may also be used to select advertisements thatmay be of interest to the consumer. Specifically, advertisements frommanufacturers or retailers of products that the consumer has expressedan interest in may be selected and added to subsequent displays thatwill be presented to the consumer. Do the amount of informationavailable at 430 very sophisticated advertising targeting may beperformed with the system of the present disclosure. Specifically, theseconsumers have expressed an interest in purchasing a product and a greatdeal of information about the specific type of product that the consumeris interested is available for use in selecting an advertisement. Withsuch detailed information available on the users of the system who areby their use of the system interested in purchasing a product, the valueof the advertising opportunities will be very high.

Referring back to FIG. 5A, below the product features area 520 is aproduct research area 540. The product research area 540 is used todisplay the product research information that has been gathered by theconsumer or suggested by the consumer helper application to help selecta product for purchase. The specific type of product researchinformation that is displayed in product research area 540 depends onwhich of the product research tabs 550 has been selected.

In FIG. 5A, the “My notes” tab of the product research tabs 550 has beenselected such that a set note writing areas 541, 542, and 543 areillustrated. The note writing areas provide a personal web notepad topersist and organize the information the buyer discovers during theproduct research process. In one embodiment, the note writing areasallow multimedia information to be stored such as text, images,hyperlinks, and videos. For example, note writing area 542 in FIG. 5Aincludes a hyperlink to the web site of a particular productmanufacturer.

If a consumer has specified that the consumer's data may be shared withother users, then the system may automatically make the consumer's notesavailable to other users of the system. Alternatively, a systemadministrator may review various notes entered and decide which notesentered by a consumer to available to other users of this system. Inthis manner, the best research notes entered by any user may be sharedwith other users looking for the same type of item.

In one embodiment a shared “Questions & Answers” section is created foreach product type. In the Questions & Answers section, various users maypost questions that may be read by other users. This may be performed inthe same manner that a user enters notes except that the note with thequestion will immediately be made available to other users of thesystem. For example, in the digital camera Questions & Answers section,a user may post a note with question “Is Canon D80 better than Z43 inlow light condition?” Other users may then directly answer the questionwith another posting. Other users might attach questions to theirpublically posted notes and bookmarks (such as questions that areanswered by the note) such that other users that have the same questionscan locate the answers quickly.

In one embodiment, the system might examine a question that a user isposting and attempt to match the user's question to similar questionsalready answered and recommend those answers to the user before allowinga new question to be posted. In this manner, the system will prevent thesame questions from being asked and answered repeatedly. Similarly, thesystem may match a user question to related answers (i.e. “see also”).

Referring to FIG. 4, the system allows the consumer to view a web site,view a suggested item, or add/edit a note at step 450. If the userselects to add or edit a note, then the consumer helper applicationsystem proceeds to step 460 where it accepts the consumer's notations.The consumer may enter notes in the designated note writing areas 541,542, and 543 as illustrated in FIG. 5A. After the consumer has completedthe consumer's desired notations, the system then stores the user'snotations at step 465 and then system then returns to step 430. In oneembodiment, the user's notations are stored in the online consumerhelper database 326. In this manner, the consumer's notations will beavailable from any other web browser enabled computer system that iscoupled the network 304. Furthermore, the consumer's notations may beexamined by a data-mining application 332.

At step 430, the system again generates a set of web sites and productsthat may be of interest to the consumer. Since the consumer may haveentered new notes at step 460, the consumer helper application mayconsider these new notes when re-generating a set of web sites andproducts of interest. For example, a user may have entered the name of aparticular name brand manufacturer in the notes such that a web siteassociated with that manufacturer may be added to the list of web sitesof interest. Similarly, products made by that particular manufacture mayreceive an increased relevancy score such that those products will bedisplayed higher on a list of products of interest.

Referring again to FIG. 5A, the consumer may view different productresearch information in product research area 540 by selecting adifferent research tab 550. For example, if the consumer selects the“research” tab of research tabs 550 then the user interface of FIG. 6Amay be generated. FIG. 6A illustrates a first type of research view thatpresents a list of buying guide web sites to the consumer. Specifically,the research view has a set of research type links 650 labeled “BuyingGuides”, “Reviews”, “FAQs”, and “other”. As illustrated in FIG. 6A, the“Buying Guides” link has been selected such that a set of buying guideweb sites are presented in research area 640.

The other research type links 650 of will cause other sets of webresearch sites to be displayed. For example, if the consumer selects the“Reviews” link from research type links 650 then the set of productreview sites illustrated in FIG. 6B may be displayed to the consumer.Similarly, if the consumer selects the “FAQs” link (Frequently AskedQuestions) from research type links 650 then the set of Frequently AskedQuestions sites illustrated in FIG. 6C may be displayed to the consumer.If the consumer selects the “other” link then any other web sites thathave been deemed of interest to the consumer may be displayed. Forexample, manufacturer web sites for the type of product being researchedmay be displayed in the “other” research page (not shown).

Referring back to the buying guides research view FIG. 6A, the buyingguides in research area 640 have been divided into two sub areas. Anupper sub area contains buying guides that have been saved by theconsumer and thus must have been found useful by the consumer. A lowersub area lists other buying guides that have been selected at step 430as being possible helpful to the consumer.

The consumer may visit any of the suggested web sites in order to learnmore information about the desired product. Referring again to FIG. 4,if the consumer selects at step 450 to visit one of the suggested (orsaved) web sites then the system proceeds to step 470 where the selectedweb site is displayed. Furthermore, when a consumer visits one of thesuggested web sites, the consumer helper application plug-in 307 maypresent the consumer with a toolbar that can be used to help theconsumer annotate and store any information that the consumer found tobe useful.

For example, FIG. 7A illustrates one possible view of a consumer helpertoolbar. The example consumer helper toolbar of FIG. 7A includes a“store page” button 702, a “The Good” button 703, and a “The Bad” button704. The store page button 702 can be used to store the currently viewedweb page as one of the web pages that will be presented in the“research” view as illustrated in FIGS. 6A to 6C. If the web page wasone of the suggested research web pages then the web page will be movedfrom the lower sub area containing suggested web pages to the upper areathat have been saved by the consumer.

Note that as long as the example consumer helper toolbar is available,it can be used at any time during the consumer's web browsing. Thus, ifa friend sends the user a link to a useful web page for the product theuser is researching then the consumer can select the “store page” button702 to store that web page into the consumer helper application. Theconsumer helper application may ask the user to specify if the web pageis a buying guide, a product review, a FAQ, or any other type of webpage in order to place the web page in proper area of the reviewssection illustrated in FIGS. 6A to 6C. In one embodiment, the consumerhelper application may scan the contents of the web page and attempt toclassify the web page on its own.

The consumer helper application plug-in may store the link to that webpage into the consumer helper database 326. If data-mining application332 notices that several different consumers researching the same typeof product add the same web page, then the data-mining application 332may automatically add that web page as a standard suggested web page forthat product type. Alternatively, the data-mining application 332 maysuggest to an administrator that the popular web site be added to theset of standard suggested web pages for that product type.

The “The Good” button 703 and the “The Bad” button 704 in FIG. 7A can beused to high-light specific information on the currently displayed webpage for later reference. For example, FIG. 7B illustrates a digitalcamera buy guide web page that has two sections of text that have beenhigh-lighted. A first section of text 713 has been high-lighted using“The Good” button 703 as containing good information about a particularproduct. A second section of text 714 has been high-lighted using “TheBad” button 704 as containing bad information about a particularproduct. Referring back to FIG. 4, any of these high-lightingannotations will be by the consumer helper application plug-in 307 atstep 478. In this manner, if the consumer visits the same web page thenthe consumer helper application plug-in 307 will display the samehigh-lighted annotations on that re-visited web page.

The consumer helper application plug-in may store the high-lighting of aweb page into the consumer helper database 326 such that the informationmay be shared among all the user of the consumer helper application. Forexample, the data-mining application 332 may determine which sections ofthe various stored web pages have been highlighted by many users. Theconsumer helper application may then allow a consumer to use thisinformation by displaying those most high-lighted sections withhigh-lighting that may be in a different color. In this manner thecollective high-lighting of many different consumers researching thesame type of product on the same web page can be used to show the aspectthat many consumers have found to be important

After storing user annotations to a web site and returning to theproduct research page, the system may generate a new set of web sites ofinterest at step 430. The system may use any additional informationstore while the consumer was browsing web sites to help re-generate aset of web sites and products of interest. For example, the system mayattempt to locate web sites and products that include keywords from textthat a consumer high-lighted using “The Good” button 703. Similarly, thesystem may eliminate or lower the relevancy score of products thatcontain keywords in text that the consumer high-lighted using “The Bad”button 704. After re-generating the set of web sites and products ofinterest at step 430 the system proceeds to step 440 to display the userinterface with user notes, web sites of interest, and suggested productsfor the consumer.

FIG. 8 illustrates one possible embodiment of a suggested product viewthat may be displayed if the “items” tab of the product research tabs850 has been selected. In the suggested product view of FIG. 8, theproduct research area 840 display a set of products that the consumer islikely to be interested in as determined by the information entered bythe consumer (the product type selected, the product features selected,the notes entered by the consumer, etc.) and the actions taken by theconsumer (the web pages the consumer viewed, the web page text that hasbeen annotated, etc.).

Numbers factors can be used to select and filter the products that willappear in the suggest items view of FIG. 8. Products from an internetcommerce site that finds the development and operation of the consumerhelper application system may receive highly desired screen positionsuch as the top of the product list. The selected products may befiltered and sorted based the consumer's specified criteria andrelevancy. Furthermore, collaborative information such as consumerdemand data may be used to help sort the items presented. In oneembodiment, vendors of products available for sale may purchase theright to have their products that fulfil the consumer's requirementsappear on the first page of such suggested product web pages.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8, the product research area 840has been divided into an upper area and a lower area. In the embodimentof FIG. 8, the upper area displays a set of products that have beenselected by the consumer helper system at step 430. This system may alsobe aided by the consumer's own shopping history. For example, if theuser has purchased SD-RAM style flash memory cards in the past then thesystem may display a preference towards digital camera systems that useSD-RAM style flash memory cards. The lower portion of the productresearch area 840 contains a set of products that have been viewed byother consumers that have expressed similar interests. This set ofproducts may be generated using the commerce databases 328 associatedwith internet commerce site 302.

The preceding description is intended to be illustrative, and notrestrictive. For example, the above-described embodiments (or one ormore aspects thereof) may be used in combination with each other. Otherembodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewingthe above description. The scope of the claims should, therefore, bedetermined with reference to the appended claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appendedclaims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as theplain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and“wherein.” Also, in the following claims, the terms “including” and“comprising” are open-ended, that is, a system, device, article, orprocess that includes elements in addition to those listed after such aterm in a claim are still deemed to fall within the scope of that claim.Moreover, in the following claims, the terms “first,” “second,” and“third,” etc. are used merely as labels, and are not intended to imposenumerical requirements on their objects.

The Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b), whichrequires that it allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of thetechnical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that itwill not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of theclaims. Also, in the above Detailed Description, various features may begrouped together to streamline the disclosure. This should not beinterpreted as intending that an unclaimed disclosed feature isessential to any claim. Rather, inventive subject matter may lie in lessthan all features of a particular disclosed embodiment. Thus, thefollowing claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description,with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a request toinitiate a research project pertaining to a type of a product;generating a template web page interface for the type of the product,.the template web page including a features area comprising a selectablefeature and a set of selectable values corresponding to the selectablefeature; identifying, using a computer processor, an additionalselectable feature and a set of selectable values corresponding to theadditional selectable feature to add to the template web page for thetype of the product, the identifying based on a pattern of input from aplurality of consumers to which the template web page interface ispresented; updating the template web page interface corresponding to thetype of the product such that the template web page interface includesthe additional selectable feature and the set of values corresponding tothe additional selectable feature; receiving a request to initiate anadditional research project pertaining to the type of the product; andproviding the updated template web page interface in response to therequest to initiate the additional research project.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining a web site identified by theplurality of consumers as being useful in researching the type of theproduct; and updating the template web page interface to include a linkto the web site.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receivingfrom the plurality of consumers a plurality of annotations correspondingto content presented on the web site and wherein the determining of theweb site is based on the receiving of the plurality of annotations. 4.The method of claim 3, further comprising communicating a level ofimportance to the plurality of consumers of each of the plurality ofannotations, the level of importance determined based on a number ofeach of the plurality of annotations received from the plurality ofconsumers.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality ofannotations highlights one of good information about the type of theproduct and bad information about the type of the product.
 6. The methodof claim 3, further comprising selecting a product to recommend based ona relevancy score of the product, the relevancy score based on acomparison of good information about the product included in theplurality of annotations and bad information about the product includedin the plurality of annotations.
 7. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising locating a set of products to recommend based on theannotations.
 8. A system comprising: a computer processor configured toimplement a consumer helper server application, the consumer helperserver application configured to: receive a request to initiate aresearch project pertaining to a type of a product; generate a templeinterface for the type of the product, the template web page including afeatures area comprising a selectable feature and a set of selectablevalues corresponding to the selectable feature; identify an additionalselectable feature and a set of selectable values corresponding to theadditional selectable feature to add to the template web page for thetype of the product, the identifying based on a pattern of input from aplurality of consumers to which the template web page interface ispresented; update the template web page interface such that the templateweb page interface includes the additional selectable feature and theset of selectable values corresponding to the additional selectablefeature; receive a request to initiate an additional research projectpertaining to the type of the product; and present the updated templateweb page interface in response to the request to initiate the additionalresearch project.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the consumer helperserver application is further configured to: determine a web siteidentified by plurality of consumers as being useful in researching thetype of the product; and update the template web page interface toinclude a link to the web site.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein theconsumer helper server application is further configured to receive fromthe plurality of consumers a plurality of annotations corresponding tocontent presented on the web site and wherein the determining of the website is based on the receiving of the plurality of annotations.
 11. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the consumer helper server application isfurther configured to communicate a level of importance to the pluralityof consumers of each of the plurality of annotations, the level ofimportance determined based on a number, of each of the plurality ofannotations received from the plurality of consumers.
 12. The system ofclaim 10, wherein each of the plurality of annotations highlights one ofgood information about the type of the product and bad information aboutthe type of the product.
 13. The system of claim 10, wherein theconsumer helper server application is further configured to select aproduct to recommend based on a relevancy score of the product, therelevancy score based on a comparison of good information about theproduct included in the plurality of annotations and bad informationabout the product included in the plurality of annotations.
 14. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the consumer helper server application isfurther configured to locate a set of products to recommend based on theannotations.
 15. A non-transitory machines-readable storage mediumembodying a set of instructions that, when executed by processor, causesthe processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:receiving a request to initiate a research project pertaining to a typeof a product; generating a template web page interface for the type ofthe product, the template web page including a features area comprisinga selectable feature and a set of selectable values corresponding to theselectable feature; identifying, using a computer processor, anadditional selectable feature and a set of selectable valuescorresponding to the additional selectable feature to add to thetemplate web page for the type of the product, the identifying based ona pattern of input from a plurality of consumers to which the templateweb page interface is presented; updating the template web pageinterface corresponding to the type of the product such that thetemplate web page interface includes the additional selectable featureand the set of values corresponding to the additional selectablefeature; receiving a request to initiate an additional research projectpertaining to the type of the product; and providing the updatedtemplate web page interface in response to the request to initiate theadditional research project.
 16. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 15, the operations further comprising: determining a website identified by the plurality of consumers as being useful inresearching the type of the product; and updating the template web pageinterface to include a link to the web site.
 17. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 16, the operations further comprisingreceiving from the plurality of consumers a plurality of annotationscorresponding to content presented on the web site and wherein thedetermining of the web site is based on the receiving of the pluralityof annotations.
 18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim17, the operations further comprising communicating a level ofimportance to the plurality of consumers of each of the plurality ofannotations, the level of importance determined based on a number ofeach of the plurality, of annotations received from the plurality ofconsumers.
 19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17,wherein each of the plurality of annotations highlights one of goodinformation about the type of the product and bad information about thetype of the product.
 20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium ofclaim 17, the operations further comprising selecting a product torecommend based on a relevancy score of the product, the relevancy scorebased on a comparison of good information about the product included inthe plurality of annotations and bad information about the productincluded in the plurality of annotations.
 21. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 17, the operations further comprisinglocating a set of products to recommend based on the annotations.